Catholic Priest Gets 10 Years for Sending Porn to Teen

PANAMA CITY, Fla – A former Roman Catholic priest convicted of sending pornographic images to a sheriff's investigator posing as a teenage boy has been sentenced to the maximum 10 years in prison.

Thomas Crandall, 51, was convicted earlier this month of two counts of transmitting materials harmful to minors. He was sentenced Tuesday.

Crandall sent pornographic pictures of men to Christopher Buchanan, a Gulf County sheriff's investigator who had posted messages on the Internet claiming he was a teenage boy.

Crandall, who has been living in Mobile, Ala., faces additional prison time for violating the terms of his supervised release from a previous drug conviction.

He served more than four years in prison after being convicted of conspiring to possess methamphetamine for distribution. Authorities said he was selling the drug from the rectory of his last church in Milton.